The EK trade was an absolute steal at the time for arguably the best defenseman in the league with 1 year left on his deal at a steal of a cap hit. It was the injuries and decisions afterwards that ruined the franchise. The Sharks were better than the Blues that season and if not for all the injuries they would have been cup favorites.
The return is not that far off from the Meier trade.
EK
1st, 2nd, 2nd, Norris, Tierney, Damelo, Balcers
Meier
1st, 2nd, Muk, Zetterlund, Okhotik, Johansson
Honestly the 4 players traded in each a close in value at the times of the trades. Obviously Norris improved but that wasn’t known at the time of the trade.
So basically for a full year instead of a deadline and a better player the sharks gave up only a 2nd round pick more than the Devils dud for Meier.
The Sharks absolutely won the trade when it happened. In hindsight it’s different but until time travel is invented hindsight is not a useful tool for evaluating trades.